DelDOT says Central Avenue Bridge will remain closed until later this summer

LAUREL, Del. – The Delaware Department of Transportation says that Central Avenue Bridge in Laurel will remain closed until later this summer.

The bridge is the oldest surviving bascule highway bridge in the state of Delaware and is one of the last two surviving Scherzer rolling lift bridges in the state.

Central Avenue Bridge closed on May 15, 2018, and was originally estimated to be completed in January 2019. The project was then delayed by three months due to a restriction on work happening in the water during sturgeon migration and additional time needed to complete the pier foundation in the river, which is necessary to support the nearly 100-year-old structure.

The list of work that still needs to be completed includes final painting of the steel bridge structure, pouring the concrete road deck and completing the pedestrian pathway, and paving the approaches to the bridge. DelDOT says that because the completion date was not met, they will begin assessing a $1,060 per day penalty each day beginning on June 29th, and continuing until the project is completed.